[Submitted via press release]
Khaya Mthethwa, the winner of Idols Season 8, was South Africa's favourite throughout the competition.
Keeping its promise to fans, M-Net and Mzansi Magic released the voting statistics for this year's Top 10 Idols Spectacular shows today, which indicates how the voting public rated Khaya as the show's no 1 performer for ten weeks in a row.
100% Voting Power a First for Idols
For the first time in the history of the competition, voters had 100% voting power during the Top 18 phase. In Idols Season 7, for example, the voting public determined five of the Top 10 contestants, while the judges added the remaining five.
9 Million Votes in Season 8
As opposed to the 8 053 612 votes received for Idols Season 6 and the 8 411 8869 for Idols Season 7, this year's total number of votes tallied a whopping 9 005 342.
For the final, Season 6 and Season 7 drew 2 399 002 votes 1 905 532 votes respectively in comparison with this year's 2 987 087.
M-Net's Corporate Communications Manager, Lani Lombard, says the overwhelming viewer interaction is a testament to the popularity of the brand and quality of this year's Top 10.
The results which appear below are based on votes received from the public via MXit, SMS, and the Idols website and mobi-site.
To avoid unfair syndicated voting, votes were limited to 100 per voting period on Mxit and via SMS and to one per hour on the Idols website and mobi-site. Each week, the votes were verified by auditing firm Deloitte.
The statistics for the competition from the Idols Top 18 phase through to the Idols Final, appear below with each contestant’s number of votes represented by a percentage of the total.
The Voting Results
Top 18 - Boys
Matt - 3,24%
Dumi - 4,91%
Obakeng - 6,29%
Jean - 4,88%
Simphiwe - 14,40%
Dominic - 5,02%
Monde - 8,47%
Khaya - 49,36%
Treasure - 3,41%
Top 18 - Girls
Sihle - 6,63%
Tsidi - 14,69%
Maryke - 7,99%
Thabz - 6,85%
Chloe - 11,23%
Shekhinah - 25,78%
Nosipho - 10,36%
Melissa - 11,75%
Candy - 4,70%
Top 10
Nosipho - 3,86%
Obakeng - 3,00%
Monde - 3,89%
Chloe - 5,80%
Simphiwe - 9,01%
Dominic - 3,40%
Melissa - 3,29%
Khaya - 33,09%
Shekhinah - 9,64%
Tshidi - 25,01%
Top 9
Nosipho - 3,77%
Monde - 6,95%
Chloe - 5,03%
Simphiwe - 11,46%
Dominic - 5,63%
Melissa - 8,80%
Khaya - 29,73%
Shekhinah - 12,56%
Tshidi - 16,06%
Top 8
Monde - 9,84%
Chloe - 5,66%
Simphiwe - 11,15%
Dominic - 5,67%
Melissa - 10,13%
Khaya - 31,91%
Shekhinah - 13,65%
Tshidi - 11,98%
Top 7
Monde - 12,28%
Simphiwe - 11,51%
Dominic - 6,57%
Melissa - 9,67%
Khaya - 33,12%
Shekhinah - 14,94%
Tshidi - 11,91%
Top 6
Monde - 12,07%
Simphiwe - 14,48%
Melissa - 13,75%
Khaya - 36,58%
Shekhinah - 10,98%
Tshidi - 12,15%
Top 5
Monde - 14,41%
Simphiwe - 13,66%
Melissa - 14,95%
Khaya - 40,41%
Tshidi - 16,57%
Top 4
Monde - 19,20%
Melissa - 19,57%
Khaya - 45,03%
Tshidi - 16,20%
Top 3
Monde - 20,71%
Melissa - 22,09%
Khaya - 57,21%
Top 2
Melissa - 19,80%
Khaya - 80,20%